


Programming

by melissa_42



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-02
Updated: 2010-06-02
Packaged: 2017-10-19 04:16:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/196771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melissa_42/pseuds/melissa_42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cyberpunk AU—Gokudera and Yamamoto are on a mission to obtain important data from the Gesso base.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Programming

**Author's Note:**

> The three laws of robotics:  
> 1\. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.  
> 2\. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.  
> 3\. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

_I am going to_ kill _Hibari if the lab isn’t around the next corner,_ Gokudera thinks murderously. He doesn’t chance a look back to see if those Gesso goons are on their tail. Yamamoto is laughing behind him, which means they still have a large enough head start.

So far. 

He skids around a corner, sprinting past a row of locked offices with one hand over the chip in his pocket. For a moment he’s afraid Hibari has given them faulty intelligence ( _wouldn’t put it past that bastard_ ), but sure enough, there’s a small touch pad on one of the doors at the end of the hall. Before Gokudera has a chance to use his hacker, he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Stand back,” Yamamoto warns, and before Gokudera can protest, the robot has already sliced through the door.

“Why don’t you be a little more conspicuous, dumbass?” Gokudera growls, pushing through rubble. He scans the room for the mother port. When he finds it on the wall on the other side of the room, he rushes over, chip at the ready.

Yamamoto follows him. “Well, it’d probably be bad if they got a track on your hacker. Besides,” he says, re-sheathing his sword, “I haven’t gotten a chance to use  _Shigure Kintoki_  in a while, haha!”

Gokudera plugs the chip into the port and taps a few keys before glaring at Yamamoto. Stupid robot and his stupid sword. He still has no idea why Yamamoto uses such an archaic weapon—a  _katana_ \--of all things. Reborn told him it’s because his designer is Japanese, which is just the Arcobaleno’s way of saying he hasn’t got a fucking clue, either. 

Gokudera doesn’t think they can use the ‘Japanese’ excuse for Yamamoto’s personality. The robot is supposed to be a bodyguard model—a sharp, emotionless piece of cybernetics—but he’s just so  _friendly_ , Gokudera mistook him at their first meeting as a companion model. 

There’s a rumor making its way through the Vongola base that Yamamoto’s designer created him to be like a son, and that Yamamoto hasn’t quite gotten over Dr. Tsuyoshi’s murder, but Gokudera just scoffs at such an urban legend. Robots can’t feel, not even the companion models that are designed to display almost life-like empathy, and Yamamoto’s happy exterior is just a façade for his bodyguard model programming. Gokudera has seen the telltale flash in his eyes when faced with an opponent, and it reminds him every time Yamamoto shoots him that shit-eating grin that he’s still a machine.

“It just beeped, Gokudera. Haha, does that mean it’s done?”

Gokudera curses himself for losing his concentration and unsnaps the chip from the port with a just a little more force than necessary.

“Just shut up, idiot.” He pockets the chip. “Now, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Yamamoto nods and follows him out the door and back down the hall. Just when he thinks they’ve lucked out, a viral bullet ricochets off the wall to his left.

“Shit!” Gokudera breaks into a sprint, Yamamoto at his side. He has to get this data on the Tri-ni-sette virus back to the Vongola no matter what. If he fails this mission…

There’s no time to think because Yamamoto has surged ahead and is leading him down a side corridor.

“What the hell! This isn’t the way out!”

Yamamoto grins back at him. “Haha, don’t worry! I read the maps, too.” He takes them on a zig-zag journey through the base, the heavy footfalls of the Gesso men a steady staccato in their ears. 

When he finally stops, it’s in one of the testing labs. An array of cybernetic arms, half constructed robots and nano models are strewn across the tables in systematic chaos, but the thing that catches Gokudera's eye is what appears to be a set of chunky digital watches. Gokudera knows better.

"Anti-viral cuffs," he murmurs, connecting his hacker to one just to make sure. The connection is blocked. "I'd seen the blueprints for these, but I didn't realize the Gesso had already been able to develop them." He turns to Yamamoto. "Did you know they'd be here?"

The robot just scratches the back of his head. "Like I said, I read what Hibari gave us, too, haha! We'd better hurry--the Gesso are probably close, now."

Gokudera nods and snaps the cuffs around his wrists. Since the advent of viral bullets, the race has been on to develop protection against them. Regular bulletproof material doesn't work, since the cloud virus in the bullets is designed to propagate until it reaches its target. Hibari's reports revealed that the Gesso had finally been able to figure out anti-viral  _and_  anti-nano technology that worked on human and robot skin, but Gokudera can't believe they've stumbled across physical proof. If only the Tenth had been wearing these when...

He races out the door after Yamamoto. "Are we going on another one of your stupid detours, or are you going to get us the fuck out of here?" Gokudera grumbles because there is no way he's going to admit that  _maybe_  the idiot isn't so much of an idiot after all.

"Yup, we're heading out the no--"

They're interrupted by the crack of another viral bullet ripping into the ceiling above them.

"Damnit!" Gokudera barks. It's not that he's in much danger of getting hit by one anymore, but he's pretty much fucked if he gets caught. Yamamoto is slightly more vulnerable without the cuffs, but his reflexes are flawless--are  _designed_  to be flawless, so Gokudera isn't too worried about him.

What he  _is_  worried about is the fact that the Gesso are gaining on them. Yamamoto deflects another two bullets with his sword while pulling Gokudera down the corridor to the right in the same movement.

"The hatches are close," Yamamoto says with a smile.

 _Fucking showoff--how can he smile at a time like this?!_

A loud crack echoes in his ears, and Gokudera senses something that feels like static charge on his back. The cuffs work.

He chances a look back, and suddenly there are not three, but  _thirteen_  men at the other end of the hall, and he realizes that even if they escape in one piece, they won't be able to make it back to the base without being followed.

"Fuck, I thought Hibari said we'd have a clear shot!" Gokudera groans. From the corner of his eye, he sees Yamamoto pull out a small, ornate box from his jacket pocket.

“Where the fuck did you get that?”

Yamamoto charges the hacker on his finger. “Reborn gave this to me; it has rain nanos in it.”

“Well, why the hell are you using it now? We’re at the hatch already—we can make it!”

“Not at this rate.” Yamamoto nods at the men still shooting haphazardly at them down the hall. “I’ll buy you some time.”

Gokudera grind his teeth. “You idiot, that’ll slow your circuits, too! You'll be right in their hands when the nanos die off! Aren’t you supposed to be programmed with self-preservation instincts?!”

“Reborn told me to protect the chip, no matter what the costs.”

“That fucker—“

Yamamoto interrupts him. “But I have more important orders.” His lip twitches imperceptibly. “Dad told me to protect the people I love.” 

“Yamamoto…”

“Don’t worry, Gokudera,” Yamamoto says with a grin. “I know what I’m doing.” And with that, he pushes Gokudera into the hatch and seals the cover.

+++

When Gokudera finally reaches the Vongola base, Reborn simply nods when he hands over the chip and cuffs.

"Have Hibari analyze these. And tell him the next mission will be a rescue operation."

"He’ll never agree to it,” Reborn comments. “It'll be near impossible."

"I don't care."


End file.
